Riders (Riders, #1)(67)

“I bet you’ve been wondering why this happened to you,” Daryn said.

“You bet right.”

“I wondered that a lot too in the beginning.” She glanced at me. “But what if it’s happening for you? I’m not saying it is. I’m just putting it forward as a possibility. But what would you think then?”

“That’s deep, Martin. I need a second to think about that.” I actually needed a rest. I set Jode down beneath one of the angel statues lining the bridge. A cold whip of air rushed across my sweaty back as I straightened.

“Blake,” Marcus said, turning to me. “You feel that?”

“What is it?” Daryn asked.

“Not sure,” I said. I scanned the streets in the distance. They were still. It was the quietest part of night, on the verge of morning. Then I saw a shadow slipping along the far banks of the river. It could have been Alevar but the cuff was sending me—and Marcus, apparently—undeniable Sebastian signals. As the shadow drew closer, zipping up the same bridge where we stood, I could see it more clearly. It looked like long smoky threads, dark and fluttering.

I thought I knew what this was, but I had to play it safe. I focused on the feeling I’d tapped into just an hour ago—a combination of protect, defend, serve—and connected with a thread of power inside me. A jolt ran through my hand and I saw a flash of fire, then the sword was mine.

Yes, yes, yes.

Marcus came over to us. He looked at me like, oh, so we’re doing that? A moment later, a scythe-sized tornado of pale dust flowed from his hand down to the street, forming into his weapon.

The flurry of black smoke drew nearer and slowed a few feet away. From that moving darkness, a black hoof appeared, then another, then legs, shoulders, haunches, and on up. I’d seen Shadow materialize twice now, and I was no less amazed.

This time was different, though. Sebastian formed up right along with her. One moment I was looking at ribbons of smoke. The next, there he was. Mounted on Shadow. Sitting in a black saddle I’d never seen before. Wearing black clothes and light armor I had also never seen before.

He looked nothing like himself.

He looked impressive. And terrifying.

The only recognizable part of him was his gigantic grin, which disappeared when he saw Jode slumped under the statue.

“Whoa,” Bas said. “What happened to him?”





CHAPTER 40

Five minutes later, we had secured Jode onto Shadow with some rope I had in my backpack. As I tethered Jode down, I took a look at Bas’s armor and Shadow’s saddle. They were made of material that felt like leather in places, and of the same substance as Bas’s cuff in others. Like his cuff, his armor and saddle had intricate, webbed styling. I’d never seen anything like it.

I also got closer to Shadow than I’d ever been. She was incredible. All raw power beneath a coat as cool and soft as night. I tried not to think of my burning, mean-ass horse as we set off again.

We came across a few people on the streets, but no one paid us much attention. Horses had been clopping through Rome for a long time, and with the darkness, no one seemed to notice that Shadow was a little unusual.

Our luck changed when we reached Jode’s hotel. The entrance was promenade-style, so the four valets manning the front doors got a good long eyeful of the five-plus-horse of us as we walked up. When we finally reached them, they looked completely at a loss for words.

“Ciao, signores,” I said, in a fine Italian-Californian accent. “We’re bringing our buddy James Oliver Drummond Ellis back after a big night out for his birthday. Jode here went a little crazy with the celebrating, as you can see. Too much vino. But he gave me his key card before he passed out.” I pulled it out of my pocket and held it up. “And what kinds of friends would we be if we didn’t make sure he was tucked in safely?”

They looked at each other. Then the oldest one said, “Perché hai un cavallo? Why horse?”

“She’s a birthday gift from his father,” Daryn said. “Polo pony.”

“Champion lines,” I added, patting Shadow. “We’re expecting a lot out of this girl.”

Daryn smiled at me. “She’ll deliver. She is a beauty, isn’t she?”

Definitely. She definitely was.

“Che meraviglia! Un regalo per el compleanno,” the valet rushed to explain to the others. He looked back at me, pointing at his face. “Signore, your nose?”

“Oh, I did that,” Daryn said. “He was hitting on me.”

“Yep. So she hit back. Wicked right hook. Does that … does that translate?”

Sebastian muffled a laugh. He stood behind us with Shadow and passed-out Jode. Marcus was there, too, watching everything in silence. He looked like he was ready to spring into action at the first sign of any problem.

“We’re fine now, though,” I said to Daryn. “Aren’t we fine?”

She shrugged. “I’m fine. I think your nose is broken.”

These ludicrous fabrications seemed acceptable to the doormen because they were suddenly all goofy about Daryn and the pretty black horse and how funny my nose looked ha ha ha. From there, it was nothing to get their help tracking down Jode’s room number. They wanted to help carry him up, but Daryn and I said we’d manage. We lifted him by the arms and carried him through the swankiest lobby I’d ever seen in my life.